The 411 (information) for Sunday night:

  • We will be gathering at Thew Elementary School at 5:00pm.
  • Click HERE for google directions.
  • We will be studying One Peter 1:1-2. (Overview)
  • We will strive to be done by 7:00pm. (haha!)

The story of how we got here this week:

We had a great open discussion on Sunday night with about 25 people who were genuinely talking through issues surrounding where we were going to meet.  The best part of that meeting was probably the freedom people felt to share their thoughts and wrestle with the vision. Thanks for being so open and honest as we processed through this decision together.

On Monday afternoon we went to Thew Elementary School to meet the principal and look over the facilities.  We met with the principal (Julie) and saw quickly that she is very kind, welcoming, and excited about us meeting there.  This is her first year at Thew, but at her previous school she had a church that met in her school for 8 years.  As a result of her previous experiences with churches she is very supportive of us meeting there – to say the least.

As we talked with her we found that other than the rent money we will be paying, most of our other costs we were thinking we’d have to cover right away are fading away:

  • They have a cafeteria and a gym we can meet in depending on our needs.
  • The gym has a sound system we could potentially use.
  • We can store our chairs there and actually use them as a way to bless the school.
  • We can buy a storage trailer and store it at the school if we ever need the extra space.

We have decided as a community to move forward with Thew Elementary being the place we get together for now. Here are a few other reasons we are moving forward with Thew:

  • There are ridiculous opportunities for ministry and partnering with the school and neighborhood.
  • The school leadership is very flexible and easy to work with.  They communicate clearly and are excited for us to meet in their building.
  • The facilities at Thew would allow us to put the least amount of work into preparing the place we get together on Sundays.
  • There is plenty of parking and the facilities functionally meet or exceed our needs as a community.

We’ve been praying about this, researched the options, and truly believe God is leading us to step towards Thew as the place where we gather our Missional Communities together.

If you have any questions, concerns, or want a little more clarification please e-mail them to kevin or chris “at” tempecitychurch.com.  We are stoked that God’s been guiding us and blessing us in some pretty crazy ways already and are praying for a continued gospel presence in this city.